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MP Not Allowed to Vote in Bengal

CPI (M) supporter killed, MP Not allowed to Vote

Last phase of Panchayat Elections Also Witnesses Violence

An ominous indicator of the heights to which the TMC can go to terrorise people and impose its will was evident on July 25, the day when the four districts of North Bengal went to polls in the last phase of panchayat elections. As in the earlier four phases, this phase also witnessed violence, murderous assaults, booth capturing and large-scale rigging. Voting took place in four districts of Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, and South Dinajpur.

Even CPI(M) Lok Sabha member Mahendra Roy was not spared. Roy represents Rajganj parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha. Roy along with his wife was assaulted in front of booth no. 141 in Kukurjan in Rajganj of Jalpaiguri district where they had gone to cast their votes. They were not allowed to vote. TMC miscreants captured the booth since morning and did not allow voters to cast votes. Repeated complaints to the district administration proved of no avail. Mahendra Roy was gheraoed by TMC activists as soon as he reached the booth. There were no central forces nearby.

In North Dinajpur, a CPI(M) supporter Abdul Aziz was killed in Itahar in front of the booth after he and several other villagers were attacked with sharp weapons by TMC miscreants. TMC men had captured the booth since morning and when villagers gathered there to protest, the goons attacked them. In a gruesome incident, Sirajul Islam’s right arm and the fingers of Itu Das, wife of a CPI(M) candidate were chopped off.

TMC hooligans captured booths in Itahar, Chopra and Raiganj of this district. In many villages armed gangs on motorcycles moved around threatening villagers not to come to booths.

In South Dinajpur district, TMC captured booths in Gangarampur, Tapan, Kumarganj. In many places TMC activists chased away voters; forcibly evicted Left Front agents from booths and prevented hundreds of voters from casting their votes.

The district of Coochbehar witnessed more widespread violence. In Tufanganj, Sitai, Sitalkuchi, Dinhata and Mathabhanga blocks, many booths were practically taken over by TMC activists. Left Front agents were not allowed to enter the booths. In Panishala, even CPI(M) candidates were not allowed to vote.

In Jalpaiguri, three persons were injured in Talguri under Maynaguri while another person was hit on his head when he was going to cast his vote. All the four were CPI(M) supporters. Three CPI(M) supporters were injured at Paharpur, when TMC goons attacked a village the night earlier. Besides MP Mahendra Roy, around 500 villagers were not allowed to vote in Kukurjan.

Left Front Chairman, Biman Basu condemned the violence and said that the ruling party tried to turn the entire election process into a farce. People in villages in West Bengal have lost their democratic right to choose their representatives, he added.